LONDON (AP) — A father and daughter crippled by a suicide bomber who killed 22 people after an Ariana Grande concert in England in 2017 were awarded 45,000 pounds ($58,000) Friday in a case against a former television producer who claimed the tragedy was a hoax.
Martin Hibbert and his daughter, Eve, won their harassment suit in the High Court in London last month against Richard Hall for videos, a film and a book he produced that falsely claim the Manchester Arena bombing was staged using actors and no one was wounded or killed.
Hall, an independent producer, had claimed “millions of people have bought a lie” about the attack and defended his work, including surreptitiously filming the daughter, as journalism in the public's interest.
Justice Karen Steyn called Hall’s conduct a “negligent, indeed reckless, abuse of media freedom." She said he used the “flimsiest of analytical techniques” to dismiss "the obvious, tragic reality to which so many ordinary people have attested.”
Salman Abedi blew himself up with a bomb hidden in a knapsack as fans were leaving the Grande concert on May 22, 2017. In addition to those killed, more than 260 people were wounded and hundreds of others were left with “deep psychological injuries,” police said.
Martin Hibbert was paralyzed from the waist down and his daughter, who was 14 at the time, nearly died and has severe brain damage.
The Hibbert's also won an injunction preventing Hall from further harassment, and Hall will have to pay 90% of their legal costs that are currently estimated at 260,000 pounds ($335,000).
The award, however, is meager compared to many won in U.S. lawsuits. In a case that also involved denying a major tragedy, conspiracy theorist Alex Jones was ordered to pay $1.5 billion to parents of children killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut in 2012 for falsely claiming it was a hoax.
Martin Hibbert said that he never expects to see a penny of the award, but the victory wasn't about money.
“What this was about was bringing him down in public, in front of his own followers, that’s what I’ve done," he said outside court.
Hall said the trial was unfair and continued to insist the bombing didn't happen as he left the court.
FILE - Martin Hibbert makes a statement outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, July 25, 2024. (James Manning/PA via AP, File)
CETINJE, Montenegro (AP) — Shock and dismay prevailed in Montenegro on Thursday after a gunman fatally shot 12 people, including two children, in a western town before killing himself.
At least four others were wounded in the shooting rampage in Cetinje on Wednesday that followed a bar brawl, officials said. This was the second such incident in the town in the past three years.
Hundreds gathered on Thursday evening at the main square in Cetinje for a candlelight vigil in the memory of the victims.
Police Commissioner Lazar Šćepanović described Wednesday’s shooting as “one of the biggest tragedies in the history of Montenegro.”
He said at a news conference that the victims included seven men, three women and two children, born in 2011 and 2016.
“Most of the victims were people he knew, his closest friends and relatives,” including the shooter’s sister, Šćepanović said. “This criminal act wasn’t planned or organized. It was unpredictable.”
The shooter, identified as 45-year-old Aco Martinović, killed the owner of the bar, the bar owner's children and his own family members, officials have said.
The attacker, who first fled after the rampage, was later located and surrounded by police. He died after shooting himself in the head, police said.
Residents of Cetinje, a town of some 17,000 people, were stunned and grief-stricken.
"I knew all of these people personally, also the attacker. I think when he did that, he was out of his mind," said Vesko Milošević, a retiree from Cetnje. "What do I know, he went from place to place and killed people. Its a catastrophe.”
Vanja Popović, whose relatives are among the victims, said that “we are all in shock.”
“How can I feel after this?" Popović said. "No one expected it. You can’t even ask anyone anything.”
Police had dispatched a special unit to search for the attacker in the town, which is located about 30 kilometers (18 miles) northwest of Podgorica, the country's capital. All roads in and out of Cetinje were blocked for hours as police swarmed the streets.
Police said that the shooter had died while being taken to a hospital in the capital and succumbed from the “severity of his injuries.”
Officials have said that the attacker was at the bar throughout the day with other guests when the brawl erupted. He then went home, brought back a weapon and opened fire at around 5:30 p.m.
Prosecutor Andrijana Nastić said Thursday that the attacker went to six locations during the shooting rampage, including the last one, where he shot himself.
Four men were killed at the bar, she said. The shooter then moved on to another location where he killed four more people, and then two children at a third site. He then went on to kill two more people at two other locations before eventually shooting himself, Nastić said.
“Further investigation will determine the exact circumstances of the events,” she added.
The government has declared three days of national mourning starting on Thursday, and all planned New Year's festivities have been canceled throughout the country.
Prime Minister Milojko Spajić said that the government may try to impose a total ban on weapons “because we must ask ourselves after this who should be allowed to have guns in Montenegro.”
The small Adriatic Sea nation, which has a population of around 620,000 people, is known for its gun culture and many people traditionally have weapons.
In August 2022 in Cetinje, which is Montenegro’s historic capital, an attacker killed 10 people, including two children, before he was shot and killed by a passerby.
Police have said that the suspect in Wednesday's shooting received a suspended sentence in 2005 for violent behavior and had appealed his latest conviction for illegal weapons possession. Montenegrin media have reported that he was known for erratic and violent behavior.
“Instead of holiday joy ... we have been gripped by sadness over the loss of innocent lives,” Montenegro's President Jakov Milatović said in a post on X.
Associated Press writers Jovana Gec and Dušan Stojanović contributed to this report from Belgrade, Serbia.
A view of blood by the door of a bar after a shooting incident, in Cetinje, 36 kilometers (22 miles) west of Podogrica, Montenegro, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Risto Bozovic)
A police car outside a house after a shooting incident, in Cetinje, 36 kilometers (22 miles) west of Podogrica, Montenegro, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Risto Bozovic)
A view of a bar after a shooting incident, in Cetinje, 36 kilometers (22 miles) west of Podogrica, Montenegro, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Risto Bozovic)
A view of a police vehicle at the home of a gunman after a shooting incident, in Cetinje, 36 kilometers (22 miles) west of Podogrica, Montenegro, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Risto Bozovic)
A view of a police vehicle at the home of a gunman after a shooting incident, in Cetinje, 36 kilometers (22 miles) west of Podogrica, Montenegro, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Risto Bozovic)
Police officers stand guard at the home of a gunman after a shooting incident, in Cetinje, 36 kilometers (22 miles) west of Podogrica, Montenegro, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Risto Bozovic)
Police officers stand guard at the home of a gunman after a shooting incident, in Cetinje, 36 kilometers (22 miles) west of Podogrica, Montenegro, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Risto Bozovic)
A police officer stands guard at the scene after a shooting incident at a bar, in Cetinje, 36 kilometers (22 miles) west of Podogrica, Montenegro, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Risto Bozovic)
Rescue workers work at the site of a shooting in Cetinje, 36 kilometers (22 miles) west of Podogrica, Montenegro, Wednesday, Jan 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Risto Bozovic)
Police investigators work at the site of a shooting in Cetinje, 36 kilometers (22 miles) west of Podogrica, Montenegro, Wednesday, Jan 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Risto Bozovic)
Police investigators work at the site of a shooting in Cetinje, 36 kilometers (22 miles) west of Podogrica, Montenegro, Wednesday, Jan 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Risto Bozovic)
